Malesani Isn't hopeful for European Success

[athinaios]

Alberto made the statement that we have to forget the Wembley feat as this won't happen again given the present reality. Only teams that spend big $$$$ can have serious success! THIS IS WHAT HE SAID

Is he right? What do you think?

Domazos, Antoniadis, Kamaras, and other veterans have sharply criticized Melitzana for his comments. Domazos said he'd fire him if he could.

Personally, I find some truth to his comments but I can't agree with the spirit and the vision he's got for our team. I didn't want him to leave after the bad results this season (was tired of changing coaches every few months) but I am NOT convinced that he's the man to take PAO forward. I like that he's giving chances to all players and willing to experiment--after all this season is all about building a team not competing for ..second place (I agree with Tzigger on this one).

Melitzanas lost me when he said PAO wasn't all that bad and was unlucky.... He kept pointing out that we were the only team to tie Barca (in Athens).... He was forgetting the bad beatings, the rapes, etc.... Like an person in jail who says, OK they beat me up often but the food was good!.....

Perhaps it's time to think about not renewing his contract. :tdown:

Here are COMMENTS--a reaction to M's statements.

[thrylos]

He is a good coach.

You can be quick to critisize and point out all the negatives, but look at the team of great young Greek players he has built for you.

In a few years PAO will be dominant. This coming from am Olympiakos fan.

Give him time. No coach can turn things around that quickly. He gutted PAO and now PAO is being built nicely.

As far as those comments, GREAT FOR HIM TO SAY THEM. Do you honestly feel that PAO can compete for the Champions League? When the team has built itself into a top side then watch them spend money to sgo for it (two more years).

[drakos13]

guys lets be honest.....I think he should have watched how he said it maybe because its going to draw more criticsm.

Saying "Forget Wembley" kind of pisses me and im sure others off there was no need for that comment- but also i dont know what he said in italian exactly....id hope (and assume) he means more for us to look ahead from what we have not to expect euro dominance based on history...

Hes very blunt and to the point which people dont want to hear... I mean these comments are true just hes getting himself into trouble by not saying them correctly....

wats important now isnt the playboy interview its the game vs Ksanthi anyways....

[Crazy]

I am not a pao supporter but this comments are just wrong man.He has a lot of young players and he needs to inspire them and motivate them to get there own "webley" and to dream than one day through hard work and luck can go there.Money is good but is not everything as examples like real madrit and chelsea proves.Team work,good training and systems that take the best of the players in hand,smart coaching,LUCK,but most of all faith in your abilities and hunger for succses is what will take our teams in the next level.Malezani should have the same vision otherwise he shows that he is not aware of the team that he manages.Pao is not ofi or kalamata,average is not an option for the fans or management or even the history of your club.Nobody asked for miracles from malezani but you can not say things like that.Unless you don t believe in what you doing and you see more failures in the future and you just try to cover your ass.that the way i see it.

[drakos13]

imagine all the criticism he would still get if he said we are going to get another one soon.....so i dont think that will do much for the youth...

[Crazy]

[evalagoal]

He is a good coach.

You can be quick to critisize and point out all the negatives, but look at the team of great young Greek players he has built for you.

In a few years PAO will be dominant. This coming from am Olympiakos fan.

Give him time. No coach can turn things around that quickly. He gutted PAO and now PAO is being built nicely.

As far as those comments, GREAT FOR HIM TO SAY THEM. Do you honestly feel that PAO can compete for the Champions League? When the team has built itself into a top side then watch them spend money to sgo for it (two more years).

Totally agree with you my friend...

But you know what people success in Europe isn't really on how much $$$ you spend it's about how a team is going to play along with each other. Lets look at Benfica or Lyon or some other UEFA Cup teams that still playing in Europe...

This is something that I think comes from the coaching staff & players and as professionals they (players) need to respect their coach and vise versa. In Greek soccer we have so many pre-madonnas that everyone think that their s%$#! don't stink and when they go abroad and play they go inter w/ the wrong mentality..

Money has nothing to do w/ winning in soccer alot of it has to do w/ mental

[drakos13]

[Olympiakara10]

I'll have to agree. We need more investors in the greek league so it can become stronger and more competitive. Spending tog et more talent helps you in the champions league without a doubt. There's a reason teams like Olympiakos can get mauled by Lyon 4-1 or Panathinaikos can get destroyed by Barcelona 5-0. There needs to be some stability and some more investments put into the greekt eams if anyone from this league will ever win a CL title.

[WilProdotto]

Dear PAO friends!

May be it's not according with topic, but can someone translate in English this great PAO song for me???

I almost understand the meaning, but I would like to know the whole text! Thanks a lot triphillos!!!

panatha mou sai agapo

san iroini san skliro narkontiko

san to hasis to lsd

gia sena pao mastouroni oli i gi....

panatha mou sai agapo

opou kian paizeis panta tha sai akoloutho

pao edo pao ekei

opou kai an paizeis panta tha eimaste maziii...

-please, if there's some mistake, correct it! thanks again! -

[drakos13]

Dear PAO friends!

May be it's not according with topic, but can someone translate in English this great PAO song for me???

I almost understand the meaning, but I would like to know the whole text! Thanks a lot triphillos!!!

panatha mou sai agapo

san iroini san skliro narkontiko

san to hasis to lsd

gia sena pao mastouroni oli i gi....

panatha mou sai agapo

opou kian paizeis panta tha sai akoloutho

pao edo pao ekei

opou kai an paizeis panta tha eimaste maziii...

-please, if there's some mistake, correct it! thanks again! -

I love you my Panatha (Panathinaikos)

Like heroin like a hard drug (narcotic)

like hashish, like LSD

for you PAO the whole world gets high

I love you my Panatha

Wherever you play I will always follow you

PAO here, PAO there

Wherever you play we will always be together

[WilProdotto]

Thanks a lot fastest friend!!!!

I want to sing it loud whenever I can come to see a Pao match!!!!

thanks again

[drakos13]

no problem.......i uploaded a video of it i took last year if you would like to see/hear it........its a good little clip other pao fans should check it out too..

http://rapidshare.de/files/17008200/PAO-PA...OK_013.avi.html

[Clover22]

Thanks for the post athinaios; a negative belief system or attitude is wrong in any sport. Is this team ready for big time success in the CL? No absolutely not but if I were coach I would never tell my players "forget it". This is football and anything CAN HAPPEN however(Euro 2004).Malezani has had enough time with this team. Time to go bye-bye.

[athinaios]

There are 2 major things that bother me about Melitzana. 1. He has made statements about games and situations that have no connection to reality.... I mean we all know something about soccer, and it's obvious that we got destroyed in Euro play last year. Plain and simple. He thought we were unlucky!!!! 2. He has a complex in that he thinks small teams can never make it big. I disagree. Money is important but not everything. Real has very expensive superplayers and instead of a team it has a "thiaso". Anyway, no coach should say "forget it".... Especially if you are PAO you always set your sight high! Also, I see that he has little confidence in the team (or maybe it's his style), that once we score once he retreats.... like against a good Xanthi team, and we most often pay the price.

[iliasdim]

Also, I see that he has little confidence in the team (or maybe it's his style), that once we score once he retreats.... like against a good Xanthi team, and we most often pay the price.

THIS IS WHAT I THINK OF MALEZANI AS WELL! "ARKEITAI STA LIGA" AND WHEN THE TEAM WINS (ESPECIALLY A DIFFICULT MATCH) HE SEEMS LIKE HE WON THE CL!!

HE MAY BE THE BEST COACH IN THE WORLD, BUT YOU CAN'T DO MUCH WHEN YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN YOUR TEAM...I AM SURE THAT WHEN HE LEAVES (AT LAST!) HE WILL BE SAYING THAT THIS WAS THE BEST, THIS TEAM COULD DO........UNLESS IT WAS MORE LUCKY! :P

[Steve07]

His comments show how unprofessional he is. How are you going you openly shoot down your team, especially when you have allot of youngsters coming up in the team its basically telling them there is no point in trying you guys will never achieve anything. I would fire his ass, his actions this year are so detrimental to the team it’s not funny what an ass and I've been a supporter of him for a long time now its time for him to shape up or ship out!

[DUDE]

He is a good coach.

You can be quick to critisize and point out all the negatives, but look at the team of great young Greek players he has built for you.

In a few years PAO will be dominant. This coming from am Olympiakos fan.

Give him time. No coach can turn things around that quickly. He gutted PAO and now PAO is being built nicely.

As far as those comments, GREAT FOR HIM TO SAY THEM. Do you honestly feel that PAO can compete for the Champions League? When the team has built itself into a top side then watch them spend money to sgo for it (two more years).

I totally agree. PAO need time, the mistakes he's made are getting rid of Basinas and Konstantinou in my opinion, but overall,he must have time before being judged. As for him saying that PAO should forget the past, in a sense he has a point. Only by looking at the future can one prosper. Give him one more season if there is still no improvement then get rid of him.

:gr:

[TheCity1924]

He is a good coach.

You can be quick to critisize and point out all the negatives, but look at the team of great young Greek players he has built for you. 

In a few years PAO will be dominant.  This coming from am Olympiakos fan.

Give him time.  No coach can turn things around that quickly.  He gutted PAO and now PAO is being built nicely.

As far as those comments, GREAT FOR HIM TO SAY THEM.  Do you honestly feel that PAO can compete for the Champions League?  When the team has built itself into a top side then watch them spend money to sgo for it (two more years).

I totally agree. PAO need time, the mistakes he's made are getting rid of Basinas and Konstantinou in my opinion, but overall,he must have time before being judged. As for him saying that PAO should forget the past, in a sense he has a point. Only by looking at the future can one prosper. Give him one more season if there is still no improvement then get rid of him.

:gr:

Come on man, all the time in the world won't change anything. It is his attitude that kept you guys from accomplishing anything this season. Classic example: Pao- Udinese. PAO is up 1-0 and he pulls the team back to defend at a time that the whole team was playing well. Same move against Xanthi. Pap is pulled out to defend the 1-0 lead. The guy does not have a mind of a winner. (and don't talk about his UEFA accomplishments because the team he was coaching was on a different level than PAO. Anyway, the guy needs to go if PAO want to stand a chance next year.

[athinaios]

Gonzo said after the game against Xanthi that the players were tired! If a coach can't figure out why the team that plays ONE game a weak gets tired, then what the heck?!!!! Xanthi players could run more than the PAO players after the 60-70 minute!!! WHY?????

Also, good points by OriginalAekara above regarding M's tactics...

[bar7]

i want stability as a coach.... but only an idiot would make comments like that

[drakos13]

Classic example: Pao- Udinese. PAO is up 1-0 and he pulls the team back to defend at a time that the whole team was playing well. Same move against Xanthi. Pap is pulled out to defend the 1-0 lead. The guy does not have a mind of a winner. (and don't talk about his UEFA accomplishments because the team he was coaching was on a different level than PAO. Anyway, the guy needs to go if PAO want to stand a chance next year.

yeah and if we kept attacking and they score with our defense weak everyone would still jump on the guy.. defending a 1-0 lead and trying to catch them while they push up is a fine tactic its not the first time its been used.....in fact it often works BETTER.

that game was turned around in the dying minutes by 1 horrendous indivdiual effort by Kotsios or Andric cant remember and one brilliant shot out of nowhere from Candela....thats the game and greek teams had NO luck whatsoever.....critisize Malesani for that game-----the team was playing GREAT for much of the game and just couldnt finish their chances...sorry but we have to stop blaming the coach every time a result doesnt go positive. If the team is playing smart, organized and improving on their rythm every game the coach is doing his job. He cant help it if one player makes a dramatic error, or theres simply an unstoppable shot in the death of the game. Its a 90 minute game and if there was such a coach who could control even a half of what goes on in the game directly they wouldnt be at PAO thats for sure......they wont be anywhere THEY DONT EXIST.

[iliasdim]

^^^^^^^^^^^^

YOU ARE MAKING A BIG MISTAKE...SAME AS MALEZANI!

GONE ARE THE DAYS THAT PAO COULD RELY ON THEIR DEFENSE.WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO GET IT???

YOU SAID THAT THE FIRST UDINESE GOAL WAS MADE BY 1 HORRONDOUS INDIVIDUAL EFFORT (FROM KOTSIOS). I CAN REMEBER SO MANY SUCH MISTAKES THIS YEAR (MORRIS,BISCAN,DARLAS,VYNTRA--LEAVE OUT FLAVIO) AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES!! WHEN A TEAM HAS SUCH AN UNSTABLE DEFENSE, WHO CAN POSSIBLY PREFER TO PLAY DEFENSIVELY IN ORDER TO HOLD A SCORE!

SO,

WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY IS THAT WE HAVE SUCH A SH###TY DEFENSE WHEN HE SUPPOSINGLY HAD A CHANCE TO BRING A DEFENDER IN SUMMER (I MEAN EVERYONE WAS SEEING THIS EXCEPT FROM HIM!!!!!!!)?

OK,WE KEPT GOUMAS BUT,

WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY IS THAT WE HADN'T OUR BEST DEFENDER FOR ALL CL GAMES AND 1st ROUND OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP? BY THE TIME HE STARTED PLAYING, EIXE PETAKSEI TO POULAKI!!!

I DON'T BELIEVE THAT A COACH THAT CAN'T SEE WHERE IS THE WEAKNESS, OR THAT CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHO IS GOOD AND WHO IS NOT,CAN EVER HAVE A BRIGHT FUTURE....

[HOLLYWOOD]

Come on man, all the time in the world won't change anything. It is his attitude that kept you guys from accomplishing anything this season. Classic example: Pao- Udinese. PAO is up 1-0 and he pulls the team back to defend at a time that the whole team was playing well. Same move against Xanthi. Pap is pulled out to defend the 1-0 lead. The guy does not have a mind of a winner. (and don't talk about his UEFA accomplishments because the team he was coaching was on a different level than PAO. Anyway, the guy needs to go if PAO want to stand a chance next year.

spot on :huh:

[drakos13]

^^^^^^^^^^^^

YOU ARE MAKING A BIG MISTAKE...SAME AS MALEZANI!

GONE ARE THE DAYS THAT PAO COULD RELY ON THEIR DEFENSE.WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO GET IT???

YOU SAID THAT THE FIRST UDINESE GOAL WAS MADE BY 1 HORRONDOUS INDIVIDUAL EFFORT (FROM KOTSIOS). I CAN REMEBER SO MANY SUCH MISTAKES THIS YEAR (MORRIS,BISCAN,DARLAS,VYNTRA--LEAVE OUT FLAVIO) AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES!! WHEN A TEAM HAS SUCH AN UNSTABLE DEFENSE, WHO CAN POSSIBLY PREFER TO PLAY DEFENSIVELY IN ORDER TO HOLD A SCORE!

SO,

WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY IS THAT WE HAVE SUCH A SH###TY DEFENSE WHEN HE SUPPOSINGLY HAD A CHANCE TO BRING A DEFENDER IN SUMMER (I MEAN EVERYONE WAS SEEING THIS EXCEPT FROM HIM!!!!!!!)?

OK,WE KEPT GOUMAS BUT,

WHOSE RESPONSIBILITY IS THAT WE HADN'T OUR BEST DEFENDER FOR ALL CL GAMES AND 1st ROUND OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP? BY THE TIME HE STARTED PLAYING, EIXE PETAKSEI TO POULAKI!!!

I DON'T BELIEVE THAT A COACH THAT CAN'T SEE WHERE IS THE WEAKNESS, OR THAT CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHO IS GOOD AND WHO IS NOT,CAN EVER HAVE A BRIGHT FUTURE....

how do you expect a coach under THIS much pressure to be able to calculate weather or not his defenders will make terrible individual mistakes......how do you expect any coach. The defense isnt great your absolutley right

But in a 1-0 situation, assuming he knows the defense sucks

would it be smarter to leave the defense weaker in HOPE that we can control the game and keep them busy offensively?

or would it be smarter to stregthen the defense to allow less danger of a seriously dangerously chance being made.....

both could work, neither of them has a definite outcome. He made a decision, it was going fine and then Kotsios decides to complicate his clearance and we are 1-1...

so you think there was no possibility of us trying to screw around in the other end, maybe get a second where Udinese wouldnt with one smart pass hit us on the counterattack and take us out? Udinese is a great team at this....Iaquinta is faster and stronger than anydefender on PAO do you think that risk was worth it now that we had the lead? I dont, Malesani didnt either. Theres two ways to go at it and there is no definite right one.....Thats the game, theres no such thing as definite.

We just have to accept that our squads aim was to get experience this year, weather Malesani stays or not at least he will have given the guys some valuable experience and some of his knowledge from the Italian game.

As for the bashing after some bad form in the begining of the season (by the way if there is a team that has never endured bad form please let me know about it)

everybody here is convinced theyre an expert on assessing his contribution and calls him an idiot. The guy is a realist and hes made some good points publicly which is why I prefer to keep him for his plan. Good teams maybe made in a season sometimes, Great teams over years.

Take for example Markarian last year- he was brought to Ira for the exact same reason. His results were poor and he did lose his job, but his experience was still recognized and he talked about how the team had gotten better. Savas stepped in to continue what he started and eventually at the end of last year the team started to look pretty formidable.....look at Ira now..